Prysmian to Acquire General Cable for $3b

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices fell further on Thursday touching a six-month low, as investors worried about sluggish energy demand in the United States and China. Brent crude futures dropped 48 cents to $73.82 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell by 33 cents to $69.05 per barrel, with both benchmarks posting their lowest prices since late June. Analysts noted that the largest global importer of oil, China, is shuttering its interests in crude and this has created pressure on prices. Chinese customs data showed that crude oil imports in November fell 9 per cent

By Dipo Olowookere The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise chaired by Mr Leke Abejide, has promised to ensure that all customs duties and levies collected by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) are accounted for and remitted to the nation’s purse. He gave this assurance during the inaugural meeting of the panel on Wednesday in Abuja, using the occasion to roll out the seven-point agenda of his group. The lawmaker, who contested in the recently-concluded governorship election in Kogi State under the African Democratic Party (ADC), listed the key focus of the team as oversight of the Nigeria

By Precious Olisa The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) have expressed their disappointment over the increasing exit of multinationals from the Nigerian market. The two organisations reacted to the planned exit of Procter & Gamble (P&G) from the country over economic headwinds. P&G announced its intention to close down its manufacturing operations in Nigeria and adopt an import-only business model due to the foreign exchange (FX) crisis in the country. This is coming some weeks after GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi, Unilever Nigeria, Equinor and others have also indicated their interest in quitting

By Dipo Olowookere The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said Nigeria’s revenue–to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of about 9 per cent was too low to trigger the economic growth projected by President Bola Tinubu in his Renewed Hope Agenda. Addressing journalists at its last press briefing for 2023 on Thursday, the global lender said the administration of Mr Tinubu must boost the government’s revenue to have funds to achieve his goals. On May 29, 2023, Mr Tinubu took over from Mr Muhammadu Buhari, promising to jump-start the economy and work tirelessly to address food security, end hunger, eradicate poverty, create

By Dipo Olowookere Some additional shares of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc have been listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), a circular has confirmed. The stocks, 146,878,241 in number, were admitted on the trading platform of the exchange on Wednesday, September 30, 2020, the notice signed by the Head of Listings Regulation Department at the NSE, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, stated. This has now increased the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Dangote Sugar to 12,146,878,241 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each from 12,000,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. The fresh equities of the sugar milling

The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Mr Ojukaye Flagg–Amachree of violently disrupting the bye-election into Port Harcourt State Constituency 3 scheduled yesterday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The party condemned the activities of the APC faction, which allegedly used armed bandit to cart away electoral materials including result sheets. The violent activities were alleged to have been massively and openly aided by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police in Rivers State. The party however commended the INEC for the

By Aduragbemi Omiyale For the umpteenth time, Nigerians have been warned to flee from investments that promise to offer them unrealistic returns as this will end in premium tears. This warning was given by the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda, when he addressed newsmen at the end of the quarterly Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting held last week. According to him, Ponzi schemes are known to disappoint investors and Nigerians should be very careful with them and must treat them with caution. He described a Ponzi scheme as a fraudulent investment operation where the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The management of embattled telecom firm in Nigeria, 9mobile, has refuted reports that Barclays Africa has resigned its role as its financial adviser. Barclays Africa was appointed as financial adviser to 9mobile to source for a new investors for the Nigerian company before the end of this year. But days ago, there were reports that the UK-based financial firm had stopped its relationship with 9mobile. At the end of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting last month, Governor of the apex bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele, when asked about the issue, said he

Managing Director of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Mr Tony Okpanachi, has become a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN). The event was held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos on Thursday, May 16, 2019. Mr Okpanachi was given this honorary fellowship awards alongside other five distinguished bankers in recognition of their contributions to the banking industry and the nation’s economy. The award was the first ever extraordinary Investiture of the Institute held outside the regular CIBN Investiture series. A seasoned banker of over 29 years’ experience, Mr Okpanachi was appointed the pioneer

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The local currency appreciated last week against the Dollar across the various segments of the foreign exchange (forex) market. At the parallel market, the Naira gained 0.28 percent against the Greenback to close at N360/$, while it also went up by the same margin at the Bureau De Change (BDC) market to finish at N358/$. At the Investors and Exporters window, the local currency grew in strength marginally by 0.01 percent to settle at N360.79/$. However, at the interbank segment of the market, the Naira was flat, closing at N357.52/$ amid sustained weekly injections of $210 million

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The N13.1 billion bid for the 24 units of luxury flats at Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, has been rejected by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In late December, the EFCC commenced the auctioning of some forfeited properties in some cities of the country. It started in Lagos and others before moving to Abuja. At the exercise in Abuja yesterday, one of the bidders offered N13.1 billion for the forfeited Ikoyi property, which is to be sold as a single unit, but the anti-money laundering organisation rejected the offer. In a statement issued on Monday, the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Senegalese Petroleum Industry have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to guide Nigeria’s support for the development of local content in Senegal. This agreement was reached during a meeting in Lagos between the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote and key officials of the Senegalese Petroleum Industry. This is part of Nigeria’s strategic support for the development of local content across the African continent, which has already been extended to Ghana, Niger Republic, Uganda, Kenya, Gabon, Ugandan, and Congo Brazzaville. Speaking after the meeting, the Executive